Happiest of holidays to you! While you can never go wrong with booze (a common gift given and received), Ms. S&C was on the receiving end of a few other shoes and cocktails inspired gifts this year. All courtesy of Mother S&C!

To tell the truth, Ms. S&C doesn’t know a whole lot about wine. She gets her regions confused, her grapes confused, then there’s the Old World vs. New World, wine etiquette, and the science and artistry of wine-making. She wants to know more about these things, so bring on the Wine Wars Trivia Game!

Living in a small house, with tiny closets, and the inherited trait of never wanting to throw anything out (a trait of Mother S&C mind you), additional shoe racks are a welcome gift (and necessity, as clearly one wasn’t enough!).

And lastly, here’s a sassy little stocking stuffer that’s already made its way to the office. While Ms. S&C can agree (somewhat) on the message, she likes to emphasize quality over quantity :)

Any other fun shoes and cocktails inspired holiday gifts out there? Any self-gifts? Please share!

Need last minute gift ideas for the literary cocktail enthusiast in your life? Here are some titles worth adding to the library.

Humor: check out David Sedaris’ “Holidays on Ice.” It’s quick and funny, and even if you don’t get past the first story “SantaLand Diaries,” about a thirty-three-year-old man applying for a job as an elf, it is worth it.

History: “Imbibe!” by David Wondrich features great stories and original recipes for tons of classic cocktails. Full of facts and historical contexts, but very readable. And a must-read for any aspiring cocktail expert.

Memoir: J. R. Moehringer’s “The Tender Bar” is described as a “raucous, poignant, luminously written memoir about a boy striving to become a man, and his romance with a bar.” If you’ve ever felt like a bar was your second home (for good or for bad), this is a story for you.

The past two Thanksgivings for Ms. S&C have been meat free. This means no turkey, no Virginia ham, and when she’s visiting family in Southwestern Va., it also means no gravy and no stuffing. Some of you may be thinking “What’s left to eat?” Trust me, you can have a rich and hearty vegetarian (or vegan) Thanksgiving dinner that’s reminiscent of the one you know and love. (And it may be one you feel better about eating.)

Start off with a cocktail we’re calling the Old Fashioned Pilgrim. Adapted from Imbibe Magazine‘s Maple-Cranberry Bourbon Smashed, we used the same ingredients as those in our cranberry sauce (yes, the same sauce that’s served alongside the tofurkey).

The instructions are easy: add a tablespoon of the cranberry sauce to two and a half ounces of bourbon (we used Buffalo Trace). Stir well. Fill glass with ice and garnish with an orange twist. Enjoy a sweet and warming seasonal variation of a classic drink.

The Old Fashioned Pilgrim is a lot like the classic Old Fashioned but made with fresh cranberries, orange, agave nectar, and cinnamon

Enjoy this beverage while you’re putting the finishing touches on this delicious all vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner.

Herbed Tofurkey (we used the Quorn Turk’y and roasted with fresh parsley, rosemary, and thyme)

Bourbon Mashed Sweet Potatoes (we mostly followed this recipe but eliminated the cream, almost all of the butter — used vegan butter actually — and the brown sugar)

Chorizo-style Protein & Apple Stuffing (we used Field Roast protein sausage in this stuffing recipe and subbed veggie broth and beer for the chicken stuff)

Cranberry Orange Sauce (we fixed this version with agave nectar so it could be used in cocktail as well)

If you’re not used to eating a protein other than turkey and sausage, the taste will surely be different (and the tofurkey on its own could have used a little gravy), but the spicy stuffing and tart citrusy cranberry sauce are more than enough to give this all veggie dinner a lot of flavor.

Attention beer drinkers. Specifically, Belgian beer drinkers. More specifically, lambic style beer drinkers. This may be a post for you.

Ms. S&C recently took 10 days to spend some time in London, Belgium (Bruges and Brussels), and Amsterdam. When you’re on a holiday such as this one, it’s hard not to visit a pub or a beer bar *at least* once a day. Ms. S&C would argue it’s one of the best ways to settle into a new city, get to know a neighborhood and just get off your feet for a bit. And when visiting these cities in particular, the most interesting — and perhaps the most refreshing — thing to order is beer.

In London, you’re gonna order a pint and you’re gonna order something on draft. Or, there may be a time or two when you order a half pint and that half pint may be cider. Either way, cheers!

In Belgium, ordering beer can be intimidating. Even the smallest of beer bars will have a hundred or more beers to choose from. Ms. S&C stuck mostly with lambic style beers. They’re funky and earthy, and sour, and sometimes with a touch of sweetness. They’re complex. And despite my choice of adjectives to describe them, they’re really, really good.

Here’s an almost complete list of what two beer drinkers can drink in three short days in Belgium (in order of appearance):

De Ranke XX Bitter

3 Drei Fonteineri Oude Gueze

Girardin Gueze (black label)

Girardin Kriek

Boom Mariage Parfait

Cantillon Gueze

Moinette Blonde

Brugse Zot

Rochefort 6

Saison Dupont

Troublette

Duchesse de Bourgogne

Hanssens Artisanal Oude Gueze

De Garre Triple (on tap)

Gulden Draak (on tap)

Petrus Gouden Triple

Duvel (triple hop)

Cuvee De Ranke

Saison de Dottignies De Ranke

Cantillon Faro

Cantillon Lambic (on tap)

Cantillon Kriek (on hand pump)

De Rank Gulden Berg

Houblon Chouffee

Boon Oude Gueze

Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus

Oerbier

When visiting a new city, one may ask: how do you know where to go? Sometimes you can rely on just popping into the nearest place when your legs are too tired to take you any further. But much of the time, you can benefit from a little research beforehand. For instance, Tim Webb’s Good Beer Guide to Belgium is worth the purchase. Rick Steves is a pretty reliable source too (he also recommended our favorite bar: t’Brugs Beertje in his travel guide). A few spots Ms. S&C would like to find herself drinking a beer again:

The Lamb and the Fog (London)

Lounge Bohemian (London, cocktails)

The Rake (London)

The Jugged Hare (London)

t’Brugs Beertje (Bruges)

De Garre (Bruges)

Poatersgat (Bruges)

Chez Moeder Lambic (Brussels)

When in Amsterdam, after seven days on the road, you might want to chill out, have a smoothie and stick with a beer you know. Amstel, particularly Amstel Light, has always been a personal go to. But, it’s also a city when you may just want to sit back at a coffeehouse overlooking a canal, drink some mint tea and watch the bicycles go by.

Love means never having to live without J.Crew’s Edie Tote.And never having to carry it without these lovely enamel bangles decorating your wrists.And, of course, love means wearing these nautical stripe peep-toe pumps.Happy Valentine’s Day from S&C!

Happy New Year! (Better late than never, right? And yes, S&C is still around.)

We guess you could say that there’s been a renewed sense of focus, of being, of life since our little break. Ms. S&C has completed her yoga teacher training that turned her attention elsewhere. And now she’s trying to determine how to make the best use of this little blog given her exploration of other interests and her commitment to yoga. (Yes, she’s aware that she’s a little attached and not ready to let go of it.)

So, for now, we’re gonna try to go with a “to your health” type of theme. That means: we’ll share all sorts of things you can imbibe (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) and buy (accessory-wise), but all the while trying to be as good to our body (as much we can) and as good to others (as much as we can).

Let’s kick things off with this smoothie — Ms. S&C’s first-ever-made-herself smoothie. She doesn’t know what has taken her so long — it is super easy and super delicious.

Ms. S&C’s First Smoothie

Ingredients:

Greek yogurt (about 4-6 oz.)

Soy milk (half a cup)

Banana sliced (one, and use that very ripe one you don’t know what to do with)

Blueberries (small handful)

Walnuts (even smaller handful)

Directions:

Place all ingredients in a large plastic container. Blend together. (Get yourself a Cuisinart Hand Blender — it means this whole operation takes less than 30 seconds and cleanup is easy.) Drink to your health!

About Shoes & Cocktails

The blog dedicated to shoes, cocktails, and things related was created by Ms. ShoesandCocktails, a Washington, DC area resident, who lives with her husband and dog, and is surrounded by friends with good taste and a weakness for cocktails. Ms. S&C would love to hear from you, so feel free to contact her at: shoesandcocktails(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Miss Mojito also joins Ms. S&C as a contributor. Miss M is from Richmond, VA, and lives and breathes for the delightful Cuban cocktail from which she borrows her name.